Xeon Gold 5218 vs X5650

Primary details

Comparing Xeon X5650 and Xeon Gold 5218 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in performance ranking	1404	471
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	0.25	10.24
Market segment	Server	Server
Series	no data	Intel Xeon Gold
Architecture codename	Westmere-EP (2010−2011)	Cascade Lake (2019−2020)
Release date	16 March 2010 (14 years ago)	2 April 2019 (5 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$53	$1,273
Current price	$44 (0.8x MSRP)	$1412 (1.1x MSRP)

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

Xeon Gold 5218 has 3996% better value for money than Xeon X5650.

Detailed specifications

Xeon X5650 and Xeon Gold 5218 basic parameters such as number of cores, number of threads, base frequency and turbo boost clock, lithography, cache size and multiplier lock state. These parameters indirectly say of CPU speed, though for more precise assessment you have to consider their test results.

Physical cores	6 (Hexa-Core)	16 (Hexadeca-Core)
Threads	12	32
Base clock speed	2.66 GHz	2.3 GHz
Boost clock speed	3.06 GHz	3.9 GHz
Bus support	no data	4 × 8 GT/s
L1 cache	64 KB (per core)	1 MB
L2 cache	256 KB (per core)	16 MB
L3 cache	12 MB (shared)	22 MB
Chip lithography	32 nm	14 nm
Die size	239 mm2	no data
Maximum core temperature	81 °C	87 °C
Number of transistors	1,170 million	no data
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	+
Unlocked multiplier	No	No

Compatibility

Information on Xeon X5650 and Xeon Gold 5218 compatibility with other computer components: motherboard (look for socket type), power supply unit (look for power consumption) etc. Useful when planning a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. Note that power consumption of some processors can well exceed their nominal TDP, even without overclocking. Some can even double their declared thermals given that the motherboard allows to tune the CPU power parameters.

Number of CPUs in a configuration	2	4 (Multiprocessor)
Socket	FCLGA1366,LGA1366	FCLGA3647
Power consumption (TDP)	95 Watt	125 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Xeon X5650 and Xeon Gold 5218. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	Intel® SSE4.2	Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX, Intel® AVX2, Intel® AVX-512
AES-NI	+	+
AVX	no data	+
vPro	no data	+
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	+
Speed Shift	no data	+
Turbo Boost Technology	1.0	2.0
Hyper-Threading Technology	+	+
TSX	no data	+
Idle States	+	no data
Thermal Monitoring	-	no data
Demand Based Switching	+	no data
PAE	40 Bit	no data
Turbo Boost Max 3.0	no data	-
Status	Discontinued	Launched

Security technologies

Xeon X5650 and Xeon Gold 5218 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	+	+
EDB	+	+

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Xeon X5650 and Xeon Gold 5218 are enumerated here.

VT-d	+	+
VT-x	+	+
EPT	+	+

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Xeon X5650 and Xeon Gold 5218. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR4-2667
Maximum memory size	288 GB	1 TB
Max memory channels	3	6
Maximum memory bandwidth	32 GB/s	128.001 GB/s
ECC memory support	+	+

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Xeon X5650 and Xeon Gold 5218.

PCIe version	2.0	3.0
PCI Express lanes	no data	48

Synthetic benchmark performance

Various benchmark results of the processors in comparison. Overall score is measured in points in 0-100 range, higher is better.

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Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance rating. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

Gold 5218 outperforms X5650 by 284% based on our aggregated benchmark results.

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Pros & cons summary

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Performance score	3.70	14.21
Recency	16 March 2010	2 April 2019
Physical cores	6	16
Threads	12	32
Cost	$53	$1273
Chip lithography	32 nm	14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	95 Watt	125 Watt

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Should you still have questions on choice between Xeon X5650 and Xeon Gold 5218, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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